So What Does Brexit Mean For Hospitality

Firstly, we fucking hate calling it ‘Brexit’ let’s just make that be known before we continue.

The country is near enough completely divided right down the middle as 17 million people voted for the UK to leave the European Union as opposed to the 16 million people who wanted to remain in the European Union again demonstrating that the people on the losing side don’t like democracy. It doesn’t matter which side of the cocktail you drink from (that was a nice little drinks reference there to keep it related, wasn’t it?) if you work in the hospitality industry there’s going to be at least some changes.

Despite numerous requests, we steered clear of the EU Referendum prior to the actual vote, in part owing to our lack of knowledge on the subject and also because this website is a safe haven for everyone. Everyone had their own reasons for voting the way they did and it’s not Cheapest Shot’s job to alienate anyone or push our own naive political agenda. (It would also demonstrate an unjustified ego if we thought we could have any impact on the way people voted). You may ask “why now then?” We feel it’s needed now more than ever.

The decision to leave the EU – another thing, it’s pronounced E U, not “You” or “Ewe” or “ewwwwwwww”, gosh darn that’s annoying – will , without a doubt, have an effect on the way in which the hospitality sector performs.

The obvious issue that needs addressing is the situation surrounding the foreign workers that currently work and reside in the United Kingdom. As has been stated by people from both the Leave campaign AND the Remain campaign: workers who are already working in the UK will not be deported today, tomorrow, next week, next month or possibly even ever. The negotiations to leave the EU take place as soon as someone invokes article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which won’t be until at least October when David Cameron steps down as prime minister, and even then it’s a good two years before the UK can officially be cut free from the EU to wander about the world like a horny teenager who thinks he knows best. This means that there is no immediate reason to panic over staffing issues.

There will not be 120 hours of labour in your bar and/or restaurant that suddenly needs to be filled tomorrow unless your foreign workers decide for themselves to up sticks and get out of the country, which unfortunately, could very well be a possibility or an option that some people decide to take.

After the two year negotiations, however, is when things could get a little bit more complicated. EU nationals right now don’t require a visa to work in the United Kingdom and the only thing that has possibly “guaranteed”* the possibility for them to stay is if they have applied for a national insurance number before the referendum took place. We could also struggle to attract highly skilled workers from EU nations due to the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s future. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that the UK still attracts skilled American workers and Australian workers and they can never be part of the EU, whether they choose to keep being attracted by the big lights of Blackpool and London like funny talking moths remains to be seen.

*We use guaranteed in quotation marks because it’s safe to say that no matter which side the passion-fruit is flamed (LOL another reference) the UK government isn’t capable of guaranteeing the public anything – and technically the EU referendum is not legally binding. Queue the riots.

The importing of supplies is another thing that could change. What will happen to trading agreements is not known, they could be completely fucked, they could work out for the better- again, it is not known what will happen to trade agreements despite the threats of different countries to cease to work cooperatively with the UK. Pretty much everyone’s said “I’ve no idea what will happen if I throw this rock in the air, I could hit a paedophile, I could hit the driver of a school bus. Let’s find out.”

What is known, obviously, is that if you are a supplier or an owner of a business then you should absolutely look to make contingency plans should the need arise – the popular choice is moving to Scotland… a country that despises most of us and is a brilliantly ironic representation of the UK’s EU referendum.

Then there’s the prospect of Britain becoming a prime destination for stay at home holidays. With travel to the EU seemingly set to rise to in-affordable levels for lower earning families and individuals, Britain could see a rise in the so called “stay at home holiday”. These holidays provide the potential for the UK’s economy to be boosted by its own citizen’s money, which would mean more money would be spent in local bars, pubs and restaurants – because the Brits love a good piss-up.

There is also the potential to lose out on other foreign tourists as the prices rise in the UK to deal with the potential collapse in currency strength and air fares could potentially rise through the roof (lol like a plane) and the country could be stained as being a nationalistic and racist country that “hates them there darkies”.

The potential loss of distinct cultural restaurants and bars could also be something that might be witnessed. No longer would Italian restaurateurs wish to come to England and compete for the title of ” best authentic Italian food this side of the canal”, those foreign Michelin Star chefs wont want to open a business here and famed bartenders will open their Negroni bars elsewhere. Obviously no-one knows if this will happen and it’s purely a hypothetical AND a negroni bar is incredibly niche anyway.

What can be important to remember here is that the chairman of JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, was an avid campaigner for the UK to leave the European Union, and he’s the head of a fucking huge hospitality business. Does this mean it’s OK? Will the industry be safe? Not at all, but it’s interesting to note that not everyone in hospitality is scared of the impending EU removal.

It’s also been reported that a majority of the hospitality industry (65 %) believe their work force issues will be left unaffected by the decision, and that a 39% majority of food service businesses believe that a decision to leave will be good for business, those racists.

SO WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS ACTUALLY FUCKING MEAN?

That’s the point. No-one knows. Are we supposed to be scared or are we to embrace the direction our country is seemingly heading in? It’s no secret that if you have social media and you voted Leave then you’ve been called any of these insults: Racist, prick, narrow-minded, selfish, incompetent, racist, racist, racist and hairy, but don’t let those insults get to you, you had your own ideas and you’re a competent self-thinking adult… might be better if you lose the toothbrush moustache though, that’s not helping your cause.**

It matters not what our own personal feelings to the EU are, what matters is it’s extremely important to remember that Britain hasn’t left yet and that this is also aimed at the hospitality industry, other sectors could become completely fucked beyond all recognition and the country could very well slide into oblivion – Obviously we don’t want that, even if you want to prove the Leave voters wrong and make them look like idiots, we all want the country to prosper and thrive, except for Wigan. Fuck you, Wigan.**

What we do know for sure is that the price of limes is already ridiculously high as fuck so THANKS, BRITAIN.